1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reactor. A reactor is a passive element that uses a coil, and is also referred to as “inductor.”
2. Description of Related Art
A reactor is used in a circuit, such as a voltage converter, in motor drive systems of electric vehicles including hybrid vehicles. Also, the current that flows through a reactor is measured to control the current precisely in some motor drive systems. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-272771 (JP 2010-272771 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-272772 (JP 2010-272772 A) disclose a technique for use in combining a reactor and a current sensor. In either document, a current sensor is attached to a lead wire of a coil that is wound around a core of a magnetic material and the current sensor is embedded, together with the core, in a part of a resin that covers the coil.
A typical current sensor is constituted of a ring-shaped core of a magnetic material that surrounds a conductor as a current measurement object, and a magnetosensitive element disposed in a part of the ring of the core. The above reactors all require the core of the coil and the core of the current sensor to be produced separately and assembled later.